Both cards have an image stamped on black cardstock from the clear set Sprigs (30-284) which was heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I stamped the image numerous times in different lengths and angles.

I then colored a small piece of white card stock with various hues of red and pink Distress Ink coloring from dark to light. I sprinkled a little of water to add interest and allowed to dry. I die cut two sentiments from Hello Frame (51-040) and Wishes (51-036). I die cut the sentiments several times from black cardstock and adhered to the colored die cut to add thickness. Sequins were also added as a final touch.

I have another teacher’s card to share. I made this for my daughter’s 6th grade Language Arts teacher. He retired this year . He was well loved among the students including my daughter. She was so disappointed when she found out knowing her brother won’t experience the “awesomeness” (her words) of his class.

I used two teacher clear sets for htis card: Smarty Pants (Paper Smooches) and You Rule (Lawn Fun). The stack of books were masked to make them higher. I colored and cut the teacher/professor on a separate piece of cardstock and adhered the image on the panel with dimensional foam. I also added glossy accents on the spectacles for dimension and fun!

From my family to yours, I hope you are enjoying this wonderful holiday season. It truly is my favorite time of the year even with all the hustle and bustle. This week we are spending time with family.

I wanted to share one more card for the year. I love how the background came out so serene.

I love so many aspects of the image: her long flowing hair, the flowers in her hair and her wings – my favorite.

I wanted to use watercolor on this Mimi. I stamped and embossed the image on Bristol paper. Her wings were the first that I wanted to color. They reminded me of a pattern you would see on a Tiffany lamp. I pressed Tumbled Glass, Shabby Shutters and Tattered Rose Distress Ink on a craft sheet and use these colors as my palette. The outside center was colored with a bronze colored pearlescent watercolor. Once I finished her wings, I colored the rest of Mimi, fussy cut her and set her aside.

For the background, I decided to add Tumbled Glass to the front of my cardbase and then added random stars using the Heidi Swapp Confetti stencil. The colors I used for the stars were Broken China and Seedless Preserves Distress Ink. I then created hills using Landscape Trio from Mama Elephant.

The hills were adhered to my cardbase. I then added Mimi with dimensional foam. Finally, I stamped a sentiment from Paper Smooches Joyful Greetings and added more shine to Mimi’s want using a gold WInk of Stella Pen.

I wanted to share a card that I made a few months back for my daughter. When the school year begins, I always like to tuck a card of love and encouragement for her to look at in her backpack. She keeps in a small pocket the whole year.

I love all the cutesy characters from Mama Elephant and wanted to use this image for her. The bokeh looking background was created by using the Ranger Mini Ink Applicator and alternately dabbing hues of blue Distress Ink directly as a circle onto the card panel.

The last few weeks of school are always hectic. This year was no exception. I actually thought I planned well ahead to purchase/create gifts for kids’ teachers and then to create teacher themed cards for them. That, unfortunately, never came to frution.

I usually like to make a baked item for the teachers. This year, I made sour cream pound cake and cream cheese pound cake for them. I also baked 2 batches of honey buttermilk biscuits. With the biscuits, I also gave the teachers either a jar of honey or a jar of jam in the gift bag. Yes, a lot of baking. But I wanted to ensure that all my children’s teachers (all 8) had a special treat.

I needed to make quick and simple cards for the teachers since there were only 3 days left of school. Since I had to make them “quick”, I knew I couldn’t spend any time doing any detailed coloring or adding many layers. I recently purchased a few stamp sets from the new company Altenew. I thought I’d use the very cute Ori Kami set. I drew inspiration from this card and this card.

Here’s how I made these cards. I used patterned paper similar to designs found on origami paper. The designs should be tight – with not a lot of empty space. I stamped the elephant (becuase it’s just too adorable) and the crane on the selected paper with Versafine Onyx Black ink. I then added clear EP and then heat set. I stamped, in total, 16 images – 2 images for each card.

The next step was the most time consuming as I had to fussy cut each image. To save some time, I cut them when I was on the school carpool line. And my dear daughter (who LOVES origami) cut the rest for me. Once that was done, I cut the second image for each card into several pieces. I wanted to create a 3D effect of the image. For the crane, I cut the entire middle portion. For the elephant, I cut the tail, the head and the front leg. I then added these pieces to each respective whole image using foam tape.

I cut 8 CS panels (about 3.75 x 5.25″). I then added color to each panel using various ink sprays. I used inks that would complement each image. Once the panels were dry, I added a “thank-you” sentiment. In these cards, I used Mama Elephant’sMany Thanks and Paper Smooches Word Up. I then mounted my panel onto the card and then added my origami image onto the card panel.

Here’s one of my elephant cards.

The following are my crane cards.

I was very pleased on how quick it was to assemble (well, after all that fussy cutting). Just so simple and so elegant.

My husband and I recently celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary. We couldn’t really celebrate since it was batting practice for my son’s team (and my husband is coach) that evening and I was preparing for my parents’ imminent arrival. But no fear, we had a quiet celebration w/ homemade pizza and caught up to Game of Thrones.

I first stamped the 2 panda images from Pandamonium on white CS using black onyx Versafine ink. I heat embossed with clear EP then fussy cut the images. On scratch white CS, I scribbled several hues of red and then die cut hearts from this colored area. I set the cut pandas and hearts aside.

I really love the latest trend of script font sentiments. They can either stand alone or complement another sentiment. On white CS measured to 4.25″ width, I stamped a script image from the ubercool stamp set from Altenew, Superscript with black onyx Versafine ink. I then heat embossed with clear EP. To complement the image, I used a sentiment from Mama Elephant’s Smitten. Once all stamped and dried, I die cut the sentiments using one of the dies from Paper Smooches‘ Quotables.

I then prepared the card base. I trimmed craft paper to measure the front of the card. I then adhered my sentiment quote on the top of the card base with dimensional foam. I then added the pandas and then the hearts. Glossy accents were added to the hearts.